In most anticipated series at Fenway in years, Red Sox faceplant

Red Sox

“You have to cash in. It really doesn’t matter who you’re playing.”

By Conor Ryan

September 12, 2025

4 minutes to read

COMMENTARY 

The Red Sox’ collision course with the Yankees this weekend at Fenway Park likely won’t hold any weight in determining which club will be playing baseball in October.

Entering Friday’s series opener, the Yankees held a 99.3 percent chance of making the postseason (per FanGraphs), with the Red Sox right behind them at 95.4 percent. 

But in a wide-open American League field, this three-game set between these storied rivals might determine which club could play host during a Wild-Card series in the coming weeks — or potentially catapult either team toward a divisional crown.

The Red Sox welcomed the Bronx Bombers to Fenway on Friday just a half-game behind them in the standings — with Toronto’s hold atop the AL East also far from secure (three games ahead of New York). 

For Alex Cora and a Red Sox squad bracing for playoff baseball for the first time since 2021, a mid-September meeting with the Yankees held more significance beyond the century-long beef brewing between both franchises. 

It was an opportunity that resonated with a fanbase welcoming meaningful games in September after an extended drought. 

“Went to Legal Sea Foods. … Two people offered to pay the check,” Cora said pregame. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is going well.’ … You can tell that everybody’s excited about the team, the weekend, and hopefully we can come through.”

But when given an opportunity to put their rival on the ropes Friday, the Red Sox didn’t just whiff on a barrage of haymakers. Rather, they stumbled before even stepping into the ring against their long-standing foe. 

For all of the excitement emanating from Fenway Park on Friday evening, it didn’t translate to Boston’s efforts on the diamond — with the Yankees securing a 4-1 victory on a sloppy night at Fenway Park.

Despite serving up a first-inning fastball that Aaron Judge golfed onto Lansdowne Street, starter Lucas Giolito largely did his part against an imposing New York lineup — giving up two runs over 5.2 innings of work.

Of course, that performance meant little on a night where Boston’s bats — laboring without both Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu in the lineup — mustered just two hits in a listless showing. 

“It wasn’t good enough,” Giolito said of his outing. “The other guy is throwing zero after zero. I’ve got to match that for us to have a chance to win.”

Even before Nate Eaton snapped the Yankees’ no-anthem bid with a screaming solo shot in the bottom of the seventh, Boston had several opportunities to give a sellout crowd of 36,760 something to cheer about.

Boston worked five walks into the game, and had eight instances where a Sox batter stepped to the plate with a runner in scoring position.

The Red Sox went 0-for-8 in those situations, with Boston’s erratic offensive output looming large over a team that has gone 3-5 since Anthony — their offensive spark plug — landed on the IL with an oblique ailment. 

“You have to cash in,” Cora said. “It really doesn’t matter who you’re playing. It’s something that in the last few days, we’ve been lacking production with men in scoring position. We just got to be better.” 

Boston’s offensive futility was complemented by a lack of execution elsewhere across the field. 

The Red Sox were knocked for three errors on Friday, while Carlos Narvaez had a rough showing behind the plate.

Narvaez’s league-leading sixth catcher’s interference call this season extended what would have been a scoreless third inning for New York — allowing Cody Bellinger to capitalize with an RBI single into left field to make it a 2-0 lead. 

The rookie also was unable to corral a throw from David Hamilton at home plate in the seventh, allowing Jose Caballero to slide in safely and make it a 3-0 contest. 

Be it the evident shortcomings and or the finer details that often represent the difference between a win or a loss come October, the Red Sox left a lot to be desired on Friday night. 

“Just execute,” Alex Bregman said of Boston’s approach moving forward. “Pass the torch to the next guy. Put together a good at-bat. Let the next guy drive you in and just continue to pass the torch, and that’ll be the focus.” 

Beyond the optics of Boston’s lethargic showing on Friday against a leading rival, the state of the AL should elicit more groans from a frustrated fan base. 

As noted by The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, no AL team entered Friday on track to win more than 93 games — which would mark the first time since 1974 (Athletics, 91 wins) where an AL or NL club didn’t post 94-plus wins over a full 162-game calendar. 

The 2025 Red Sox are flawed — be it their up-and-down offense, injury woes with Anthony and Abreu, and a Triple-A trio of Connelly Early, Payton Tolle, and Kyle Harrison rounding out the rotation.

But so are the AL-leading Tigers, who might have lost Cy Young front-runner Tarik Skubal to injury on Friday.

So are the Blue Jays and Yankees — whose knack for mashing at the plate hasn’t allowed them to separate from the rest of the pack due to mediocre relief pitching. 

The American League is wide open this fall, even for an imperfect club like the Red Sox. 

That opportunity — and the urgency that comes with it — was nowhere to be found on Friday night.

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.